ST. HELEN - With news of Charlton Heston's death, Hollywood lost an icon and the little Roscommon County community of St. Helen lost a favorite son.
"He was a great guy. He'll be missed, there's no question about it," said David Fultz, whose wife, Nancy, is Heston's second cousin.
Heston died Saturday at age 84.
The actor was born in Illinois but lived in St. Helen, a town of about 3,000 people in the northeastern Lower Peninsula, during his youth. He returned with his wife, Lydia, to live on the family's 1,300-acre property on Lake St. Helen for a year following his service in World War II and subsequently vacationed and hunted there.
"St. Helen was very, very proud of the fact that Charlton Heston was raised here," Fultz said this morning.About 500 acres of Heston's old northern property remains in the family's hands, while the state of Michigan has purchased the remainder and made it a walk-in area.
The state's purchase included Heston's sprawling hunting lodge and four weather-weary outbuildings. Fultz said those structures have been taken down.
Before Heston's portrayals on films of Moses, Ben-Hur and other unforgettable characters, he was a boy growing up in St. Helen known as John Charles Carter.
"My mother-in-law is Charlton's first cousin, and she went to school with Chuck here in St. Helen," Fultz said.
Fultz recalled seeing Heston in town several times over the years.
"One of the things that amazed me about him is that he was so down to earth," Fultz said. "You'd never know he was a movie star, yet the minute he walked into a room, he just commanded attention."
Heston adopted a stage name using the maiden name of his mother, Lila Charlton, and the last name of his stepfather, Chester Heston.
Heston went on to assemble one of the greatest resumes in U.S. film history, starring in "The Ten Commandments" (as Moses, 1956), "Ben Hur" (1959), "El Cid" (1961), "The Agony and the Ecstasy" (as Michelangelo, 1965), and "Anthony and Cleopatra" (as Marc Antony, 1972).
He won his only Academy Award, for Best Actor, for the title role in "Ben Hur."
But the actor also showed he would work out of type: He played a defiant human prisoner in two "Planet of the Apes" movies, screamed "It's people!" in the sci-fi movie "Soylent Green," starred in the disaster flicks "Airport" and "Earthquake," and even lampooned his archetypic characters in the comedy "Wayne's World 2," in 1993.
Outside acting, Heston was involved in Democratic politics in the '60s and supported the civil rights cause, marching side-by-side at events with Martin Luther King Jr.
His politics became more conservative as he aged. In 1998, he was elected president of the National Rifle Association. One of his last notable appearances was at the 2003 annual conference of the NRA, where as outgoing president of the group he hoisted a Winchester rifle over his head and intoned, "From my cold, dead hands."
Nancy Reagan was heartbroken over Charlton Heston's death. President Bush hailed him as a "strong advocate for liberty," while John McCain called Heston a devotee for civil and constitutional rights.
Even Michael Moore, who mocked Heston in his gun-control documentary "Bowling for Columbine," posted the actor's picture on his Web site to mark his passing.
Heston's jutting jaw, regal bearing and booming voice served him well as Marc Antony in "Julius Caesar" and "Antony and Cleopatra," Michelangelo in "The Agony and the Ecstasy," John the Baptist in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and an astronaut on a topsy-turvy world where simians rule in "Planet of the Apes."
"Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life," Heston's family said in a statement. "We knew him as an adoring husband, a kind and devoted father, and a gentle grandfather with an infectious sense of humor. He served these far greater roles with tremendous faith, courage and dignity."
Shirley Jones, who co-starred with Heston in one of his last leading roles in the 1999 drama "Gideon," said his talent as an actor sometimes is forgotten because of the epic characters he played.
"To me, he was the consummate leading man. He was tall, he was handsome, he was sensitive, he was gruff when he had to be. He was a great cowboy, he was perfect for those historical roles," Jones said. "He could do everything, and there aren't many actors around today who could."
In 2002, near the end of his five years as president of the NRA, Heston disclosed he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease.
The disclosure was soon followed by an unflattering appearance in Moore's 2003 best documentary winner "Bowling for Columbine," which took America to task for its gun laws.
Jones, who worked with Heston on "Gideon" near the beginning of his tenure as NRA president, said she discussed gun control with him and came to respect his stand, even though she disagreed with it. She said he told her his family grew up poor in the country and "had to go out and kill a deer if we wanted meat."
"He was a caring, sweet gentleman who believed in his country," Jones said. "He believed the Constitution said it's OK, we have to defend ourselves."
Heston and his wife had a daughter, Holly Ann, and a son, Fraser Clarke, who played the infant Moses in "The Ten Commandments."
Times Writer Eric English contributed to this report.
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